A method of blank shape design based on sensitivity analysis for the non-ci
rcular jeep drawing process has been proposed. By assuming the final deform
ation shape to be a drawn cup with a uniform trimming allowance at the flan
ge, the corresponding initial blank which gives the final shape after defor
mation has been found. With the aid of a well-known dynamic explicit analys
is code PAM-STAMP, shape sensitivity has been obtained. To obtain the shape
sensitivity numerically, a couple of deformation processes have been analy
zed. In order to validate this method, deep drawings of a square cup, a clo
ver shaped cup and an L-shaped cup have been chosen as the examples. In eve
ry case converged results have been obtained only after a few times of modi
fication. With the predicted optimal blank, both computer simulation and ex
periment are performed. Excellent agreement is noted between simulation and
experiment in every case. Through the investigation, the proposed systemat
ic method of optimal blank design is found to be very effective in the desi
gn of a deep drawing process. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights res
erved.